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Stock Futures Looking Higher After HPs Upside Surprise

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures were pointing to a higher open on Friday after two consecutive losing sessions for the major equity indices, getting a lift from Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) promising earnings.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were gaining 72 points, or 0.52%, at 13,944. Futures for the S&P 500 were adding 8 points, or 0.53%, to 1509. Nasdaq futures were tacking on 14 points, or 0.5% with a fair value of 2728.

Hewlett-Packard reported Thursday a profit of 82 cents a share on revenue of $28.4 billion. Analysts predicted the tech company would post earnings of 71 cents a share on revenue of $27.79 billion during its fiscal first quarter.

HP said its outlook for the second quarter was for profit of 80 cents to 82 cents a share, and full-year earnings of $3.40 to $3.60 a share, higher than Wall Street's estimate of $3.32. Shares were up more than 5% in premarket action Friday.

No major economic reports were due out on Friday. Federal Reserve Gov. Jerome Powell and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren were expected to speak at a monetary policy forum at the Grand Hyatt in New York on Friday.

Stocks slumped on Thursday after jobless claims rose more than expected and general business conditions came in soft. The early part of Thursday's session showed that equities continued to reel from the minutes of the Fed's January meeting, as it suggested central bankers were growing more open to scaling back quantitative easing measures in 2013.

Global markets were rebounding on Friday. The FTSE 100 in London was increasing 0.76%, and the DAX in Frankfurt was rising 1.1%.

Gold futures for April delivery were sliding $2.90 to $1,575.70 an ounce at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while futures for April crude oil contracts were adding 25 cents to $93.09 a barrel.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was decreasing 2/32, boosting the yield to 1.987%. The dollar was up 0.07%, according to the U.S. dollar index.

In corporate news, United Airlines (UAL) said on Thursday that it would delay the grounded Boeing (BA) 787 Dreamliner from flying any routes through June 5, and it postponed a new Denver-to-Tokyo flight. On Thursday, United Airlines shares dropped 0.65%, while Boeing ticked up 1.6%.

KKR & Co. (KKR) submitted a $75 a share offer for industrial machinery maker Gardner Denver (GDI) , according to a Reuters report. KKR gained 3.1% during after hours trading on Thursday, while Gardner Denver popped 4.9% in the same session.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) reported earnings on Friday of $1.95 a share on revenue of $1.47 billion. Concensus among analysts forecast the clothing retailer would post fourth-quarter earnings of $1.96 a share on revenue of $1.49 billion. Shares of the company were down 1.9% in premarket action on Friday.